Talking Dirtybird: BBQs, Beats, & the New Justin Martin Album
I had the pleasure of sitting down with Justin Martin and Eats Everything to have a candid conversation about the future of dirtybird while Claude VonStroke threw down beats in the background. From their beginnings in San Francisco to world tours, the crew returns to its roots with a new round of its infamous dirtybird in the park parties from Miami, to Brooklyn, SF, LA, Detroit and beyond. Check out all the tour dates and get tickets here.
So these bbq parties feel a lot like a throwback to dirtybird in the park.
Eats Everything: Exactly. There’s such an awesome lineup of our friends.
JM: Yea we like the shows where its all friends and that’s where we want to keep it.
Eats Everything: We want people who enjoy the same types of music and more importantly enjoy the love. We’re lucky to get all of us together who all really get on. It’s a gang, on the dancefloor is unique and even if I don’t know them they’re part of the gang. There’s no knobends in here. Apart from Justin. He’s the biggest cunt on the planet (laughs).
JM: I was wondering, I have this little bump I was meaning to get checked out...
I’ve been asking you guys to bring those back for a while but there was always an issue with permits because of the size.
JM: I don’t want to jinx it, it’s 95% locked down. We can’t do four a year like we used to but if we could just do one solid outdoor party that would be great. We talk about it every year and then we get shut down every year.
Just the money for that size of a permit for a free show.
JM: Well the money’s not really an issue. We’ve always done it out of love so we don’t really worry about making money. Right now we’re working on this whole bbq operation and having sponsors. I’m hoping for coconut water, that’s something I can believe in.
How’d you two meet?
Eats: How the fuck did we meet…
JM: He was sending my roommate music and he also sent a track to J Phlip, which was the Entrance song which she gave to me right before I played Detroit and it killed it. Barclay’s dancing in the crowd and wanted to know the song. Then there was a rough patch, I slept with his mom…
Eats: Yea, twice. The first time I was cool with it, cause she’s a goer, but then the second time I was like, “Mate, come on, you come over to my house, you drink all my pepsi-cola, sleep with my mum and expect to get away with it. For about five minutes you weren’t friends.
When did you first recognize something in your production that had potential, that you hadn’t heard before. How did you go about cultivating it?
Eats: It just sort of happens.
JM: You make the music you like and if people like. You do strive to do something different
Eats: My last few records haven't gone down that well because I'm not gonna make 15 "Entrance" songs, because I'm not gonna have a career in a years time.
JM: You always have to push yourself.
One of the coolest things about dirtybird is the beats are fun on the dancefloor but the melodies are still great in headphones. What's the future right now for you guys?
JM: Thank you, I appreciate that. I’m actually starting a new group. He’s playing banjo.
Eats: Steven Jello.
JM: No no that’s our song. The name of the group is foreclosure. Bringing the house down.
Are you working on a new album?
JM: I’m working on my next project and I’m planning on having it out before the end of the year. I’m striving for another album. Nothing’s official yet.
We talked about the last one being inspired by the bay and relationships. Where’s the inspiration coming from on this one?
JM: R&B, Drum n Bass, Rock n Roll. I love music and I’m constantly trying to create something new and different that makes people happy. And that makes me happy. I’m taking a whole new approach with it, I’m not just going to create a whole new Ghettos & Gardens. I want to get a little deeper. Before that I was kind of unknown. I didn’t have a reach to other artists.
Now I have this platform to reach out to really cool vocalists and write some actual music.
Everyone in EDM lately has been using young early ’20’s high-pitched vocalists, what do you think about some deeper Etta James stuff?
JM: Yea! I’m goin straight Motown. I’m not joking. I’ve got some full on crooning. There’s tons of ideas I want to try. Hopefully it works out, if I’m making music I’m happy.
You guys have one of the coolest fan bases.
JM: Yea, we got really lucky we have really open minded fans. They’re my friends. I’ve met so many people, if I recognize you and you come to the party with a positive vibe and a smile on your face I’m stoked, I’m your friend. This is what I used to do before dirtybird and the parties I remember from back in the day were the ones with awesome energy.
The DJ was down to party with the crowd. We try to keep that going, we want all of our fans to feel part of the movement,
not just like they’re paying to see a DJ they like who feels too self important to do anything but throw his music and leave five minutes after his set.
What embarrassing track do you love?
JM: “We Like Pizza” by the Pizza Kids. "I want pizza pepperoni, mozzarella and anchovy, I like pizza, I like pizza.
We chatted before about the cover art for Ghettos and Gardens, do you work in any other artistic mediums?
JM: I used to work on video stuff. That’s what I used to do in college and my girlfriend just got me a go pro for Christmas so I’ve been taking a lot of footage on the road. With my music I always try to visualize something. I’ll probably try and a few vial pieces for this next project. It’ll be goofy.
See you on the dancefloor,